Syria crisis: Arab call to work with the west for diplomatic solution

Britain and France preferred partners in a Libya-style 'contact group' to co-ordinate policy, but no question of military action

David Cameron and King Abdullah of Jordan outside No 10 Downing Street: it has emerged that King Abudllah raised the idea of a 'contact group' with Cameron during their talks. Photograph: Danny Martindale/WireImage

Wednesday 16 November 2011 20.25 EST
First published on Wednesday 16 November 2011 20.25 EST

Britain is being urged to help set up an international "contact group" to co-ordinate western and Arab policy towards the crisis in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is defying mounting outrage over the violent suppression of mass unrest.

It has emerged that King Abdullah of Jordan raised the idea, borrowed from the recent Libyan uprising, in talks with David Cameron on Tuesday.

Those discussions are just part of the feverish diplomatic activity focused on the escalating situation this week.

Wednesday saw more attacks orchestrated by the regime on Arab embassies in Damascus, and the most daring armed opposition raid yet, on a key security facility near the capital.

Senior Arab diplomatic sources said there was an urgent need for closer co-ordination following Syria's suspension from the Arab League, and attempts to unite disparate anti-Assad groups.

France recalled its ambassador in protest at the embassy attacks. The Foreign Office said Britain's envoy, Simon Collis, would stay "at present", though the situation would be kept under review.

Responsibility for the opposition raid, at Harasta on the road to Beirut, was claimed by the Free Syrian Army, part of an internal opposition which had remained largely peaceful despite 3,500 dead since March.

On Tuesday, the FSA, thought mainly to consist of defectors from the army, was reported to have carried out an ambush in Deraa that left 34 soldiers dead – another sign of the militarisation of the uprising.

Arab divisions, the prominent role of Turkey, and neighbouring Israel's close interest in Syria all require a western-led forum that could be modelled on the Libyan contact group, the Arab diplomatic sources said. But there is still no question of Arab or western military intervention.

Iran is also giving financial and logistical support to Assad, the sources added, with 300-400 members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps serving as advisers.

Jordan's king, who this week became the first Arab leader to call publicly for Assad to step down, is said to prefer the western effort to be led by Britain and France, rather than the US, in line with the Libyan case. All three countries have called on Assad to go and ensure an orderly transition. But UK officials said it was premature to talk about creating a contact group while the main diplomatic actor was the Arab League.

The league's foreign ministers, meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, confirmed Syria's suspension from the 22-member organisation. Damascus has condemned that as "shameful and malicious", and accused other Arab member states of conspiring with the west. Syria's foreign minister boycotted the session.

"Everything must be done to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Syria," the league's secretary general, Nabil al-Arabi, told reporters. Arabi is to meet a broad range of opposition groups in Cairo on Sunday.

A joint session of Arab ministers and their Turkish colleague, Ahmet Davutoglu, said emphatically: "The ministers stressed the importance of the stability and unity of Syria and the need for the resolution of the crisis without any foreign intervention."

Davutoglu warned: "The regime should meet the demands of its people. The collective massacres in Syria and the bloodshed cannot continue like this."

Diplomats said the key issue was to draw up a plan for a military and civilian Arab League mission to Syria – the only way of getting observers on the ground amid concerns about the need to protect civilians. Details need to be accepted by Syria. Arabi said that no observers would be sent without clear agreement from Damascus.

The league gave Syria three days to end the crackdown on protests and allow in teams of observers, signalling its patience with Damascus was running out. League foreign ministers meeting in Morocco said in a statement they had also asked their experts to draft a plan for economic sanctions on Syria, which was suspended from the organisation.

Asked if the three-day deadline was a last-ditch attempt at diplomacy, Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told reporters: "I do not want this to sound like a warning. What I can say is that we are close to the end of the road as far as the [Arab League's] efforts on this front are concerned."

The body did not say what would happen if Syria failed to comply.

The latest, apparently co-ordinated, assaults on the embassies of Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates seemed to suggest that co-operation is unlikely to be forthcoming.

Syria had said on Sunday – seeking to head off its suspension from the Arab League – that it would welcome an "Arab ministerial delegation accompanied by observers, civilian and military experts and Arab media".

The league was also expected to discuss referring Syria to the UN human rights council because that is easier than approaching the security council, where any condemnation of Damascus faces veto by Russia and China. Beijing, however, has supported the Arab League, while Moscow has flatly condemned it.

Iran also made clear it was backing Syria, its only Arab ally. Ali Akbar Salehi, its foreign minister, criticised the Arab League for its "haste" in suspending Syria.

Analysts and diplomats described the Harasta attack as a possible turning-point that could help forge closer links between exiled and internal opposition groups.

Analyst David Hartwell of the IHS consultancy in London said: "It is doubtful that even regime loyalists now accept – if they ever did – the government's line that the uprising is the work of 'armed criminal gangs' and attention will increasingly focus on the tide of public opinion in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's two largest cities, which have so far remained largely peaceful.

"Overt, large-scale displays of dissent in either city would mark the next significant escalation of the uprising against Assad."